Labels: brilliance, greatness, heroes, jurisprudence, law, legends, Political Science, the academy, U of I

Check out this blog entry at the Huffington Post. It is by Joshua Roman, a friend of Urbanagora.

With Hillary gaining in both nationwide and head to head polling, and with the campaigns becoming dirtier and dirtier, there is a good chance the Clinton campaign will again hint at the formation of a joint ticket. This post discusses: the implications of a dream ticket, how Obama's campaign should respond if a joint ticket is suggested again, why people assume Hillary would head the ticket, who needs who as a VP, and the impact Hillary Clinton would have down ticket if she were Obama's VP.

In other news:
(1) My least favorite Democratic Rep. John Murtha has hit the trail in PA for Clinton. Prediction: within the next two weeks he will say something so stupid it will dominate the news cycle.
(2) More proof that Obama is a rock star. People bother watching videos of him just relaxing and talking on the phone.
(3) Senator Bird is still going strong.
(4) New Obama Girl hotness.
(5) As expected, very few will actually spend their rebate checks, but this isn't about economic policy, it's all about politics.
(6) Dr. Kevorkian to run for Congress! This will reinvigorate the assisted suicide debate. I remember talking to Dr. David Gill when he was running against Tim Johnson about this issue. Doctor Gill rejected my suggestions that he lose this element of his platform. In part because unlike Tim Johnson (arguably the single biggest disgrace to the U.S. Congress), Doctor Gill has integrity. Gill was convinced most of America was ready to support this. I'm not sure we are there yet, at least not in the Midwest, but it will be interesting to see this infused into the national debate.
(7) Interesting things are happening with Puerto Rico. They are moving up their primary. It didn't make much news, though it should have, but recently Puerto Rico changed its primary system from a caucus to a primary, and from being winner take all, to a hybrid proportional system. This move was evidently done to favor Obama. Obama is doing surprisingly well in Puerto Rico, due in part to a campaign blunder by the Clinton campaign. As I heard it, the Clinton campaign cancelled a meeting with the Governor of Puerto Rico, and Obama's camp heard about it and swooped in the next day. This agility appears to be paying dividends. It is curious that no other states have tried to increase their clout exponentially by making their Dem primary winner take all. Probably for fear of push back from the DNC.
(8) Hillary Clinton totally lied about Bosnia.
(9) My favorite GOP operative Roger Stone pwn3d Spitzer. Check it out. For more on Stone, you should seriously check out this amazing write up. I love his comic approach, his showmanship, and his rules to live by. Also, anyone who gets a tattoo of Nixon's face on his back is someone you don't want to mess with.
(10) David Brooks on Clinton's odds.

Labels: 2008, Augur, Barack Obama, David Brooks, heroes, Hillary Clinton, Joshua Roman, politics, pretty girls, Roger Stone

Today would be President James Madison's 257th birthday. I visited his estate at Montpelier today to pay a few hours respect to the man and the mind that arguably did more than any other to shape our republic. His home is currently undergoing a dramatic renovation, for more on that click here. If you can find the time, take a few minutes and read about the father of our constitution, the draftsman of much of the Bill of Rights, an author of the federalist papers, a Congressman, a Secretary of State, our Fourth President, -- the Sage of Montpelier.

If you have time to read just one work of Mr. Madison, read The Federalist No. 10.

Labels: Augur, heroes, history

Seventy five years ago yesterday, on March 4, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in to begin his first term. He delivered his famed inaugural address where he declared:

"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

My grandfather, like many of his generation from rural Midwest, credits FDR and the New Deal from keeping our family from starving. This speech reminded me that our country has made it through far tougher times. More importantly, it ignited a fury that burns against the politics of winning by making people afraid. Candidates that drum up fears of economic devastation, of never ending war, or of terrorism, should be rejected. We should all hunger for a rebirth of FDR's optimistic, uniquely American, spirit and resolve.

Update: The brilliant and lovely Dr. Rachel Maddow has a similar post up today. She says, in part:

In January 1941, at a time when the world was at war and the United States was more threatened than we had ever been in our history, FDR stood before the US Congress and hailed freedom from fear. That remains the paradigm of Democratic leadership in a threatening world.

When a politician looks at risks to our country and sees an opportunity for political exploitation, rather than an opportunity to rally the nation around our unified strength and fearlessness, that politician spits in the face of Democratic leadership and patriotic values.

If there's one thing we ought to have learned from the George W. Bush presidency, it's that there's a difference between Democrats and Republicans on whether the American people should be encouraged to cower in fear.

Labels: Augur, heroes, history, Rachel Maddow

A legend has fallen. Congressman Tom Lantos, the only holocaust survivor to ever serve in Congress, died early this morning. Congressman Lantos was the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and a lifelong champion of human rights. I considered him among the best living arguments against term limits.

May the gentleman from California rest in peace.

Labels: Augur, Congress, heroes, politics

This morning I stumbled across a set of six YouTube videos on a forum that was held by GenerationEngage featuring two of the most famous speechwriters in American history, Ted Sorenson and Peggy Noonan. Sorenson has been described as President Kennedy's twin soul. Many insist that he ghost wrote at least the first draft of Profiles in Courage, JFK's pulitizer winner, and he also wrote the bulk of Kenney's famous first innaugural address. Peggy Noonan wrote for Reagan and the intelligent Bush, and she is a weekly columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

Labels: Augur, heroes, politics, writing

For some time I have intended to write a post on the chess scene in Dupont Circle, a park in the Northwest section of Washington, DC. Unfortunately, I don't have time to do it justice this afternoon, but I want to direct the collective attention of the Agora to a piece in today's Washington Post Magazine on Tom Murphy, arguably the King of Dupont Circle. Cash from both my wallet and Billy Joe's wallet has found its way into Tom's. He is a hustler, but above that he is a teacher. The story from the Washington Post Magazine is also about the intoxicating way that chess, like art and music, can capture a man's soul.

I know Tom Murphy, and consider him a friend. This article is relatively fair, but it does not fully do justice to his sparkling brilliance, his civility, his character, or his abiding integrity. Also, the author makes it a story about "what could have been", but if you really know Tom Murphy, it's hard to escape the notion that it's not quite too late, that his story is really one of "what could be."

Click here for the Washington Post Magazine write up. There is also a short video interview with Tom that will give you a glimpse into the special world of Dupont Circle's Chess University. Also, check out the coverage (and other content) at The Chess Drum.

I hope you'll take the time to read Tom's story. Tom is a colorful genius, and rather than post at length about him here and now, I'm going to selfishly make the 2 block walk to the circle, tell Tom I liked the article, play a few games with him, and more likely than not, lose ten dollars.

Labels: Augur, Chess, heroes, legends

Army Staff Sgt. Ian Newland spotted the enemy grenade inside the Humvee. Almost simultaneously, he saw Spc. Ross McGinnis, 19 — a gunner standing in the turret of the vehicle — lower himself onto it.

"I saw him jam it with his elbow up underneath him," says Newland, who was sitting inches away. "He pressed his whole body with his back (armor) plate to smother it up against the radios."

The heat and flash of an explosion followed, and McGinnis was killed. Hours later, after surgery for shrapnel wounds, Newland realized the gravity of what happened: McGinnis had sacrificed himself to save four other soldiers in the Humvee on Dec. 4. "Why he did it? Because we were his brothers. He loved us," Newland says.

Since the Iraq war began, at least five Americans — two soldiers, two Marines and a Navy SEAL — are believed to have thrown themselves on a grenade to save comrades. Each time, the servicemember died from massive wounds.

Continue Reading...

Labels: Billy Joe Mills, heroes, Iraq

This evening I read All Politics is Local by former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. It is a breeze of a read, and I'd recommend it to those in the agora who are future public servants or just political junkies. It is a collection of short stories to illustrate what O'Neill calls the "rules of the game."

I wanted to one of his lessons with the agora:

"One day Jim Curley heard me make a speech and told me I was lousy. He invited me to go around to his home. 'I'm going to give you ten poems and essays to memorize,' he said. 'Never again will you be in the position you were in the other night, because you can always recite one of these to fit the moment. Believe me, people love it when you give them a quote, especially when you do it off the top of your head. They might not remember anything else from your speech, but they'll remember that.'"

Below is the list:

1. Polonius' speech to his son Laertes from Hamlet
2. "The Deserted Village" by Oliver Goldsmith
3. "It Can Be Done" by Edgar Guest
4. "Abou Ben Adhem" by Leigh Hunt
5. "Around the Corner" by Charles Hanson Towne
6. "If" by Rudyard Kipling
7. "Friendship" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
8. "Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
9. "The Man in the Glass" author unknown
10. "Rules of the Road" by John Boyle O'Reilly

I am not familiar with several of these, and sadly, I have only committed one to memory, but I'm going to read through these later this week. This post reminded me of the value of having a little bit of canned material, and inspired me to share a hidden treasure I recently discovered on the website of the University of Illinois College of Law.

One of the most revered legends of the University of Illinois is former Chancellor and Dean John Cribbet. Dean Cribbet was known for being able to seize any crowd with only a handful of different stories, which he could adapt to illustrate virtually any principle. The law school recently created this tribute to Dean Cribbet that tells some of his stories for a whole new generation of students. The most widely known, is Dean Cribbet's "big picture" story from his days serving as senior aide-decamp to Lieutenant General Troy Middleton, who served under General Patton. Please take a look.

A dear friend and mentor of mine worked with Cribbet for years and he told me that Cribbet liked to joke about how he only had 4 or 5 stories in his repertoire. Cribbet gave each of them a number, and when he returned from an event he'd say, "I told them number 1, 2 and 4." This joke picked up enough momentum that Cribbet could just say "number 3" and his staff would get a laugh, until one day when he said "number 3" and no one laughed. When Cribbet asked why no one laughed, someone quipped, "you just didn't tell it right that time."

Labels: Augur, heroes, history, literature, poetry, politics, U of I

I promised kitten that I'd promote this press release. She and I will be attending on the Fourth of July weekend. Anyone who is interested in going from the CU Area should let us know and we might be able to provide a ride. Here's a wiki on the Man Himself.

It's very hard for me to be even close to objective when I talk about how much I owe to the works of this man. My religion, my politics and my Family can be seen as examples of successful extrapolations from his novels into the real world. He was a big part of the mechanism by which I have developed from a Farm Boy to a Natural Philosopher.


"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
James Gifford


The Heinlein Centennial
Friday May 18th 2007

916.723.4765

A MISSOURI NATIVE SON AT HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY

KANSAS CITY, MO: From the classic rocketship design to the consciousness revolution, Robert Heinlein predicted and inspired major changes of the twentieth century through his writing. To science fiction readers around the world, he remains the undisputed master of the field nineteen years after his death. This July, his life and legacy will be celebrated in a unique convention in Kansas City that has attracted some unusually high profile guests.

"Heinlein constantly redefined the field of science fiction and was so popular as to cross into the mainstream," says his biographer, Bill Patterson. "The word 'grok' came from Heinlein; he even invented the waterbed. He wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and was with Walter Cronkite when men landed on the Moon."

That recognition extends in all directions when you consider groups of people who all worship some work of Heinlein's as their bible: The sixties hippies who embraced Stranger in a Strange Land as a model for living, the Libertarians who cherish the political structure in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and the entrepreneurs now building rockets in the Mojave Desert whose inspiration is The Man Who Sold the Moon.

"Since so many space businesspeople are in this field because of Heinlein, most of them are attending our convention," says Tim Kyger, convention chair. "We have Dr. Peter Diamandis, who just flew Stephen Hawking in free-fall, Brian Binnie, the astronaut who won the X Prize, and the CEOs of half a dozen of the cutting edge companies that are in the process of revolutionizing how we get into space. NASA's boss Mike Griffin and Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin will be there to provide the viewpoint of the people that have done the most in space."

Part science fiction convention, part rocket jockey Woodstock, the three-day Heinlein Centennial will be as unique as the man it honors. Authors inspired by Heinlein who will attend include Spider Robinson (Callahan's Crosstime Saloon), David Gerrold (When Harlie was One), and John Scalzi ( Old Man's War). Sir Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles) will appear via teleconference.

"We'll have about a hundred presentations and panels where people can participate in everything from debates about whether Starship Troopers glorified war to learning about the latest in laser-launched spacecraft," says James Gifford, convention secretary. "Plus we'll have art displays, a sales area, a video room, and a gala dinner. And we're only a short distance from Butler, where you can still see Heinlein's birthplace."

For more information, go to http://www.heinleincentennial.com/ "

So, Brandon, since kitten has worked as one of the organizers of this, and I expect that we'll be a couple of the panelists, does this push me up even higher on the Nerd Foodchain? Damn, I've got to get my suit out of mothballs for the Banquet. [No tie, though, not now, not ever!]

Bwah-ha-ha.

Tom

Labels: geekdom, heroes, literature, science-fiction, Tet

I want to renew the last topic from the beginning, since I realize that the big question that I asked the readership was not answered.

First, though, some last comments on good and evil:

I found Prescott's analogy of alcoholism to be interesting.

[Syl, if you haven't gone back that far, go back to the very end of March and read my piece called 25 Years. I'm going to be thinking about that post while writing this.]

I don't think that people are either good or evil by nature. Prescott's right in that evil is easy and quickly rewarding--How many of the people you see, Syl, are tempted to the dark side because they don't ever expect waiting to give them any positive results?

I've spent the last twenty-five years training myself away from the easy and evil. It's been only a decade or so since I made the willful decision to pledge myself to the Light. I see a great deal of evil falling upon America--that was the subject of the previous post in the first place--as mentioned by Fred Reed on his blog.

The biggest problem that we have as a people, perhaps, is that for the Light to fail here, all people have to do is remain silent and go on with their lives. Evil, as promulgated by our government will slowly drain any good that's left from our culture and civilization and let us fall into obscurity and darkness.

I guess what I'm saying, (and what I tried to elicit thirty posts ago) is that good has to be proactive, while this is not necessarily true of evil. I was surprised that so many of the replies in the previous topic were changes that the co-respondents believed that the society or government needed to do in order to save the world. What I was looking for, which almost no one answered with, were three things that YOU, the reader could do to save the world.

In a lot of ways, the Heroes analogy was even better than I thought. One of the remarkable things about the writing in that series is that the Super-powered individuals are, at the end of the day, people just like us. Even the darkest of villains do not see themselves as such with their own eyes.

At one point, a Supervillain explains how the destruction of a major city would result in a better world. He looks at a painting of a shock-wave tipping buildings and mentions that to get this, only 0.07% of the population of the world had to die, and how the result would certainly justify their sacrifice.

This is a kind of evil that we need to watch for in ourselves, as well as in those that we allow to have power over our lives--pragmatism is never worth immorality, no matter how tempting its fruit.

So, I'm going to restart the discussion with the question--"How Do You Think You Could Be a Hero?" Give me three things that you can do today, as the person you currently are, to help save the world.

Tom

Labels: good and evil, heroes, homework, philosophy, Tet

I was sitting in the basement of the Illini Union an hour ago and opened my copy of the Chicago Sun-Times to an actual Roger Ebert article (a rarity during his long recovery.)

It's Studs Terkel's ninety-fifth birthday today.

I have to spend some time this afternoon raving about this man--the person whose writing, whose insight, I have grown to love over the past thirty years. Although I am growing into my father's son in so many ways, I wish instead to become like Studs when I finally become the man that I want to be.

I was working in a factory when another hippy handed me a copy of Working: What People Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. I was hooked instantly. Studs had an amazing ability to encourage people--the famous and the simple--to tell their stories to an old man with a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He just set it down in front of them and distracted them from its operation with a few select questions and we were off in a study of the American heart and soul.

I have learned from him on every page. From Working I learned that the measure of success did not lie in one's salary or influence, but with a deep-seated sense of satisfaction in a job well done. From Hard Times I finally understood the quirks of my grandmother and so many others who had been young parents during the 1930s. Race made me realize that I was treating black and disabled people as invisible. After I changed my paradigm in that respect I began getting smiles and surprised looks from people that I encountered in daily life that had grown enured to being unnoticed except as part of the background.

He has always been an unapologetic radical--a major Red, he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He's still going on in that manner--in 2006, he was part of a class-action suit against ATT for turning over phone records to the NSA. (He lost in District Court.) I find it fascinating that he went to all the trouble to get a Law Degree from the University of Chicago, but instead decided to use the mechanisms of print (and later radio and television) media to bring about social change, rather than get involved in government himself. Hmm. Perhaps there are others out there who could benefit from this example? (I believe that I loaned one of his oral history books to Augur as a matter of fact--How you doing on that, bro?)

I'll give you an example of how this man, deaf as a post, and at the ripe old age of 94, completely dominates an interview with someone who is well-known for maintaining control over his show. Even after all this time, I cannot watch this clip without falling off my chair laughing.

Every day he stays with us, the world is a slightly brighter place. Happy birthday, Studs, and may you have as many more as you wish.

Tom

Labels: heroes, history, media, radicals, Tet